Without a Paddle and Loving It

A friend and I went to Whiskeytown. We didn’t have any whiskey (maybe next time :)) but we had a lovely time on the sparkling mountain-framed lake.

It was a ‘pop’ practicum on rest, as God drove home what He has been speaking to me since my arrival in Redding, CA last month.

It was my second night here. As I was enjoying an impromptu evening with some lovely people I’d just met, one of the ladies present received a ‘knowing’ about my partial hearing loss. God told her that I would receive my hearing, as well as His promises that I would have more rest and peace.

So I’ve been pondering. ‘Rest and Peace’. It sounds like an epitaph as in, ‘Rest in Peace’, i.e., ‘Die!’. I get it, ‘let go and let God’. But how do I respond to that practically? What do I do, or not do?

Today on the lake, He brought it up again.

As I was basking in the perfectly breezy, sun-drenched afternoon (don’t mean to rub it in, merely to share the experience :)), I roused myself thinking that I should get a head start in making towards the shore since the boat was difficult to maneuver. As I gave it my all I just kept going in circles and circles, and in the opposite direction of where I was aiming.

My friend smirked, ‘You know, if you just sit back and relax the current will take you where you want to go.

I was like, ‘Oh’. (Yes, I’m a city girl.)

I sat back, drifting along and taking in the tranquil scenery. Sure enough, I got to where I needed to be. Count on the Father to get His point across in such a graphic, yet delightful way.

What an amusing illustration of how my attempts to ‘help’ along God’s plans for my life accomplish nothing except to make me dizzy and tired.

To be honest, I’m still not sure how to live out all that ‘rest and peace’ encompasses, but I’ve learned that when I’m flowing with the current of the Holy Spirit, being without a paddle is not a bad thing.

Where do you sense God wants to take you? What does flowing with the Holy Spirit look like in that context?

Of life, of dance, of trying, of hoping and dreaming, of doubting, of taking baby steps, of falling and getting back up laughing, of tears and sweat and bruises, of failures and victories, of stories and friends to share them with, of quiet moments alone with my thoughts, of regrets, of having no regrets, of faith, of fears, of adventure.